AIIMS to host World Trauma Congress from Aug 17-20

New Delhi, Aug 7: Experts in the field of trauma care and allied specialities from nearly 30 countries will gather here later this month for a global conference to devise strategies to prevent and control death from injuries on the rise in developing nations, including India.

According to a recent WHO report, by 2020, trauma will be the third largest killer in the developing world.

Hosted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the "World Trauma Congress 2016" will be held from August 17 to 20.

"Perhaps, for the first time a conference of this nature and scale will be convened in Delhi, with several trauma societies participating from across the world. It also assumes significance since death due to trauma and injuries are on the rise in developing countries like India," Director, AIIMS, M C Misra, told.

The congress is being co-hosted by the Indian Society for Trauma and Acute Care (ISTAC) and the World Coalition for Trauma Care (WCTC).

"It will be held at the Vigyan Bhawan and participants from nearly 30 countries are converging here for the event. The registrations will begin from August 17, but prior to that we will have hand-holding workshops from August 15-17," a top official of AIIMS said.

According to ISTAC, injury and trauma are steadily increasing in third world countries and becoming a major public health issue. Also, one trauma-related death occurs in India every 1.9 minutes, it said.

Misra, who is also the President of ISTAC and Chief of JPN Apex Trauma Centre, says, "Fatalities due to injuries and trauma, exceed deaths due to heart diseases and cancer, put together."

"The majority of victims in fatal road-traffic accidents are pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and cyclists," says ISTAC.

Quoting from the National Crime Records Bureau data for 2014, the AIIMS director said, out of the total accidental deaths that year, over 37 per cent were due to traffic accidents.

As per the NCRB data, 4,51,757 accidental deaths (includes those caused by natural or man-made disasters) were reported in the country during 2014, marking an increase of 12.8 per cent over 2013.

As per ISTAC, which has been actively involved in advancing the knowledge in the field of trauma and acute care through education and research over the years, fatalities from serious injuries are much more in developing countries like India than developed nations.